Behold A Macau “Capela!”
I loved a Chicago restaurant called Fat Rice, and their cookbook taught me about the cuisine of Macau, and how to make a “Macau Meatloaf” called a “Capela”!
The word “Capela” refers to a circular shape, the shape of a loaf.
For week #20 of my “52 In 22” cooking challenge, I make a “Fat Rice” “Macau Meatloaf!”
You can see the distinctive typeface of the cookbook – it’s filled with colorful animation, gorgeous photos of food, and great recipes as well – all inspired by Macau, located near Hong Kong.
I decided to make a “Macau Meatloaf” so let’s get cooking!
This is a fast dish to prepare, so heat your oven to 350 degrees now!
As you would expect for a meatloaf, there are a lot of ingredients so let’s do this in stages: I cut the Fat Rice recipe in half as I didn’t want to make a “Capala” for a dozen people!
Ingredients For “Capela” – A Macanese Meatloaf:
2 slices day old bread
3/4 cup milk
1 large yellow onion
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup black olives
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup semi-firm cheese / I used White Cheddar
1 lemon
2 eggs, beaten / 1 egg for egg wash at end
1/2 cup brown mushrooms
1/4 cup almonds and same amount pine nuts
4 slices bacon
To begin, I took two pieces of bread and cut them into cubes, then added 2/3 cup of milk and let it soak – then set aside:
Next up, I chopped a half cup of black olives and brown mushrooms, then diced an entire onion, which I saute’d in olive oil over medium low heat for about ten minutes…
These are pine nuts and almond slivers, a quarter cup of each – and I had a half cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese and the same amount of white cheddar as well…
Finally, I cut 4 slices of bacon in half and it was time to make a meatloaf:
Because there were so many ingredients in there, I mixed it by hand for several minutes, and I added salt and pepper to taste as well- add lemon zest and the juice of one lemon at the end as well:
As you can see, I cut the bacon again and it fit perfectly, which led me to bake it for one hour and twenty minutes, and when I took my “Capela” out of the oven, here’s how it looked:
There was a bit of fat around the edges based on the bacon, so I sopped it up and then it was ready for its close-up:
I took the Meatloaf out of the bundt pan so I could cut it for you and show you the inside – but this is a dish that should be served directly out of the pan!
I really enjoyed this dish – BUT – because of the black olives, mushrooms and almonds, there was a “umami” feel to the dish, especially with the hamburger and pork. I added a bit of seasoning and spicy sauce to the top when eating and helped it “pop” a bit!
I’ve eaten at Chicago’s Fat Rice restaurant several times to enjoy their signature dish:
I chose not to make their famous “Fat Rice” dish, called “Arroz Gordo” – shown above when I had it there – with “Gordo” meaning a riced stuffed with “good stuff” – because I made this Chorizo Paella recently:
I loved this dish – but I still had to make it twice!
Click here to find out why:
There have been a number of dishes in my “52 In 22” cooking challenge that caused a debate – and here’s another I had to make twice:
These “potato chip eggs” were a challenge to get right – click here to see why:
I also cooked a delicious, traditional Italian “Sunday Gravy”:
I learned an invaluable fact about this “Sunday gravy” thanks to Actor Stanley Tucci!
Click here to see the recipe and find out what I learned:
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As for my “52 Cookbooks 52 Recipes” challenge, I am sharing and storing all of these recipes on my food website as well:
“Bite! Eat! Repeat!” is your site for all things food – from these step-by-step cooking directions for 52 dishes from around the world – to fun stuff like Caviar Tater Tots!
Here’s just one of the many fun stores you can find there:
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Categories: BACON, chicago, cookbooks, Food, food blog, Food Review, Recipes, Restaurants, Wacky Food
johnrieber 
Never heard of it. I like meatloaf and thought throwing into a bundle pan genius .
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The recipe called for a carved out middle so why not let the bundt pan do the work? Thanks for the comment, much appreciated!
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Meatloaf on delicious steroids in a bundt pan. I need to make this. I am still doing the same meatloaf that I’ve been making for decades: egg, oatmeal, V-8 juice and seasonings. Plus, I’m a bacon lover. So, I’m in!
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HA! I love your classic approach! This is good but needed a bit of a spicy pop to it! Thank you for commenting!
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You are too kind- it is boring and needs that bacon and mushroom and all the other good ingredients. I can’t wait to make meatloaf in a bundt pan- it’s like finding a hidden key.
Best to you, John
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I had never heard of this, but would love to try it. You did a great job, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks Pete – interesting to see that “meatloaf”, like so many other foods, is pretty universal – just enhanced by the local flavors!
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I love their name and cookbook cover, and the meatloaf sounds great, glad you added a bit of ‘pop’ to it
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Beth, it’s interesting how certain recipes have a depth of flavor at times but not a “pop” – so I added my own! Thanks as always for reading and commenting, much appreciated!
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